I'm not sure how many of you know this, but it's been kind of a rough season for me. On top of piling on too much work outside of work (still fun - don't get me wrong - just keeping me busy!) and the usual holiday fare, my grandfather passed away last week. Needless to say, any blog posts I had planned didn't get posted.

I wasn't really sure how to get back into the blogging groove, as I had the same issue writing after my grandmother passed away in April. It just doesn't feel important anymore, even though it is; writing has always been a sort of therapy for me and I've been keeping journals and blogs for as long as I can remember.

Luckily, though, I had something exciting to kick my butt back in gear and come to you with some joyful news. I had joined the TGIF Secret Santa over on Ravelry a couple months ago as a way share some Christmas spirit with fellow yarn lovers. In the past, I've received ornaments from different areas of the country, handmade gifts (which are always a treasured bonus) and, of course, yarn that I can't always get in my area.

I had fun putting together goodies for my own Secret Santa... and even more fun when I came home yesterday to see that my secret Santa was Margaret (one of my favorite YouTubers). I knew immediately that her package would not only be fun to open, but incredibly thoughtful and purposeful - exactly how she appears in her videos.

A Margaret-made project bag :D I’ve been dying to have one since she started making them!!!!

Some delicious-sounding “Nighty Night Before Christmas” organic tea

And the piece(s) de resistance: two pint glasses with the BEER INSTITUTE logo because I’m a bit of a beer snob and enjoy teaching people that there is more than one flavor - and yes, it can be delicious! I LOVE THEM and so does my hubby. He was impressed :)

I can't stress enough what a happy surprise it was to not only receive these amazing gifts when I needed it most, but to also have Margaret as my Secret Santa. It brightened my entire week!

Hi! I'm Jenn, the yarn hoarder behind this blog. I like to knit and crochet and, as a result, I've written up some FREE PATTERNS and useful product reviews for you. I hope you like what you see and that I see you around the interwebs: